CLERMONT, Fla. — It’s been roughly one month since a fire ripped through the barn at Southern Hill Farms in Clermont.

With support from friends, neighbors and the community, owners David and Lisa Hill have picked up the pieces since then to recover in time for their Ninth Annual Fall Festival, which kicked off last weekend.

What once was a pile of ash has now been wiped clean.

“It feels like I took a shower and washed it all off,” David Hill said.

In the early-morning hours of Sept. 9, the Hills got a call that a lightning strike had set their barn ablaze, destroying about $750,000 worth of farming equipment that they had collected over decades.

“I mean, it’s truly a clean slate because we lost so much,” David said.

While they still have their petting zoo full of curious goats, an emu, their carnival rides, pumpkin patch and beloved sunflower fields, the loss of most of their farm equipment made them worry about keeping up with crops. But neighbors and local tractor dealers have lent them what they need.

“We have had a lot of friends, farming friends especially, that have stepped up and offered to help in those kinds of ways, and it means a lot,” David said.

The fire could not have happened at a worse time for the Hills, just weeks before their Ninth Annual Fall Festival, which they said generates about 40% of the Southern Hill Farms' revenue.

"We were sprinting, trying to get everything done, and then this happened, which put us so far behind,” David said.

Another huge loss in the fire was the children’s train, a staple at their festival. While they’ll have to use a tractor to pull them for a while, they were able to get new train cars in time. They were even able to add a wheelchair-accessible train car for the first time.

“Upgrading like this is not the way you want to upgrade," David said. "You’d rather do it by choice, but it has been a blessing.”

Despite the hurdles, the Hills say they are just happy to be open and excited to see people on their farm once again.

Despite a stormy forecast, attendance on the first weekend of the festival was about the same as the opening weekend last year.

“I mean, I was just crying when I saw everybody coming in, you know, that first morning on Saturday," Lisa Hill said. "It just did our hearts good, so we are very thankful, very blessed."

While there’s still a long journey ahead as they rebuild, the Hills said the support they’ve received has shown them just how much they mean to the community.

“It’s hard to find to find silver linings in stuff like this, but that was a silver lining,” David said.

For more information about the fall festival and how to buy tickets, visit the Southern Hill Farms web page.